Here's How To Get/Give Help Virtually During the Health Crisis

Hi guys! I'm Blake. I was the Editor in Chief of Playbill for many years before starting my own business.

Like many of you, I'm sitting at home, watching as my friends and colleagues are being laid off, not sure where their next paycheck will come from. I see grandparents stuck behind glass, unable to leave their rooms. I see the swarms of people getting sick, and I feel absolutely helpless to help.

So I decided to help the helpers, by providing a service that would match them with people who need help, or just want to see another person, again. God, remember meeting strangers on the street and not running away in terror? That was nice.

Visit Kindness of Strangers (akindstranger.com), where you can sign-up for as little as 30-minutes to give or get help in these trying times.

This little project of mine has become a daily call-shop of Kind Calls, providing people in a time of social distancing a way to not become socially isolated.

Our Kind Callers are doing everything from helping people redo their resumes, tips on filing for unemployment and HR pros who can help direct to services for finding jobs. We've got people who want to sing together, pray together or just talk to someone kind. We've got energy healers, yoga instructors, reiki masters and wellness coaches who want to share their talents with people who need it! They've come from as near as my next-door neighbor to as far as the American Arctic, Australia and back again.

We're also collecting virtual messages for the staff at NYU Langone, at the epicenter of this crisis. My sister-in-law, Heather Menzer, is a social worker at Langone and after she's done recovering from Covid-19, she'll be back on the frontlines, once again helping these desperately vulnerable patients. She is my hero and the inspiration behind Kindness of Strangers. Email your messages, videos, paintings or other well wishes to Heather and the hundreds of staff members at NYU Langone to bekindmessages@gmail.com

Now more than ever, we need to rely on the Kindness of Strangers.